let me know your thoughts. thanks for watching. here is shepherd smith. >> what do you think, megan? just let them go. let them do what they want. if they don't want us, we don't want them. let them go away. if they want to just fight, let them go. >> it is our friends from texas. come on. >> we love them, but if they don't want to be here, let them go. >> stay here whether you want to or not. you will stay and you will like it. >> yes, ma'am. megan says. >> that's how we feel about our viewers too. >> you have to stay. the news begins a new on "studio b." lawmakers grilled some of the biggest names in the national security over this deadly attack in benghazi that killed four americans including our ambassador there. the search for answers is coming up. general david petraeus set to testify on the benghazi attack. there he is in front of not one, but two intelligence committees. we have new stuff on this.

wait until you hear this. and serious developments in the middle east. palestinian mill tapets fired rock -- militants fired rockets at israel's largest city. they fired at tel aviv for the first time in two decades. now israel's troops are on the move. a serious escalation all ahead unless breaking news changes everything on "studio b." first from fox at 3:00 in new york city, a tough day on capitol hill as lawmakers try to get answers about the terror attack that killed a u.s. ambassador and three other americans in libya. actor head of the cia, michael morel, james clapper and matthew olson among those facing questions. members of the house foreign affairs committee are asking whether officials ignored warnings and request for extra security and whether intelligence con flicked it with the -- conflicted with what the obama officials were saying in the aftermath of the attack. >> i am appalled the administration could not anticipate escalating violence , and then failed to step up

security measures to protect our diplomats. furthermore we have seen blunder after bluppedder as the administration avoids responsibility and accountability. the delay tactics are unacceptable. now that we made it past the convenient distraction of an election, i expect to hear some real answers. it is time to fess up. >> democrats warned against jumping to conclusions before knowing all of the facts. some suggest republicans are playing politics with this. >> i am disturbed at some of the political rhetoric i hear. you know, barack obama was no maury responsible -- no more responsible for what happened in benghazi than george bush was for september 11th or ronald reagan with the blowing up of the u.s. marines in beirut. >> now david petraeus will testify about the benghazi attack tomorrow, exactly a week after he resigned cite an extramarital affair. and there is word secretary of state hillary clinton will testify on benghazi next month.

here is the latest from the pentagon on the petraeus scandal. first let's get to katherine who is live in washington. katherine, the scope of all of this is pretty unusual. >> well those two classified hearings bring together the government's top intelligence and law enforcement officials. what was clear was the president's comments on ambassador susan rice is really getting some traction. one republican alleging that, quote, the president misinformed and lied to the american people over the benghazi affair. what was also clear is that the president wants to promote ambassador susan rice. even though she said benghazi was a spontaneous attack when it seemed clear it was terrorism. >> president obama has the gal to float the name of secretary of state, the name of the person who is the actual vehicle used to misinform the person disash dasht american people during this crisis. >> that's a reference to ambassador rice's appearance

less than a week after the benghazi attack. the republicans charge that the story was not that strays forward and rice got her information from the cia and other agencies. >> these unfair attacks on ambassador susan rice are simply wrong. she had to rely on the intelligence that was provided. i sat here while colin powell provided the intelligence that he had regarding weapons of mass destruction in iraq. >> the other two key pieces fell into place today. we have confirmation that the former cia director will appear on capitol hill in a classified setting before the house intelligence and senate intelligence committees and confirmation that secretary of state clinton will come up here to capitol hill in early december once the internal review is done at the state department. >> there was a closed door hearing and i understand you just got new information on

that? >> well, fox news is told that a classified hearing withheld intelligence, one of the major flashpoints was over these talking points that were prepared for the administration in advance of susan rice's sunday talk show appearances. fox news was told that the acting director of the cia were called out to explain who was responsible for the final version of those talking points. neither man could say who was responsible and specifically why those talking points minimized the role of al-qaeda even though the intelligence and other evidence pointed to an al-qaeda-style attack. so it is clear from that classified hearing this morning that these talking points, who put them together? who finalized them? why do they seem to minimize the al-qaeda role went to the heated exchanges. >> in his first conversation with the media since the scandal broke, david petraeus

now says he never gave any classified material to his biographer and mistress, paula broadwell. that's the central question in this case, as you probably know. prosecutors are trying to determine whether to charge paula broadwell with a crime because the fbi is investigating whether the author and petraeus mistress stored military documents including classified material at her home. according to hln's kyra philips, headline news they used to call it, the cnn network, general petraeus says the timing of the scandal had nothing to do with the deadly attack in benghazi. she spoke to him repeatedly, and he tells her that he always planned to testify and that he, quote, felt fortunate to have a wife who is farber than he deserves -- far be -- far better than he deserves. it just gets weirder every day. >> one small part of the story is unraveling a bit. you recall jill kelly, the socially yea son at the air force base, when she started

receiving these allegedly harassing e-mails from petraeus' mistress went to a friend, an fbi agent. that friend is frederick humphreys. it is reported that he sent shirtless photos to kelley, but that story has been largely refuted or at least taped down. the photos were sent in jest, apparently and sent long before the petraeus scandal even surfaced. but the hundreds of e-mail exchanges between general john allen and kelley are the subject of a dod and inspector general investigation. they are e-mails that are mildly flirtation and an e-mail version of sexting. leon panetta refuses to categorize them. >> ace mentioned -- as i mentioned, when this was brought to my attention, i thought it was important to refer it to the defense department's department of -- the inspector general.

in order to determine what the facts are here, what i don't want to do is to try to characterize those communications because i think -- i don't want to do anything that would impact on their ability to conduct an objective review. objective review of what was contained in those e-mails. >> there is no time line on the inspector general's review, but these types of investigations generally take months if not years. >> you were speaking of the tampa socialite jill kelley. now it is my understanding that there is evidence she tried to profit off all of this? >> she did. at the republican national con veption in tampa last summer -- convention in tampa last summer she met with trans gas development named adam victor. kelley told him she was close friends with petraeus and she can help him get a coal gas pho location plant in korea with access to the highest

levels of the south korean government. in a later meeting with victor in new york city she asked for a fee of $80 million if this deal were to happen. victor told fox news that he thought that this was absolutely preposterous, that it was grossly exorbitant and an indication of kelley's inexperience. he walked away from the deal. many of the women in victor's office described her as provocative, extremely provocative in her demeanor and her dress. >> doug mcelway at the pentagon. general petraeus' last days at the cia were reportedly contentious. according to the reporting of the "wall street journal" which our parent company owns general petraeus went against the advice of intelligence leaders and had his aides released their own time line of the benghazi attacks in an effort to present the cia's response in a more favorable light. the report also indicates general petraeus had struggled to win over his cia employees

because he was uh accustomed to the structure of the military which is much more based on hierarchy than the cia. a lot of reporting in the "wall street journal." the assistant managing editor is with us. our parent company owns the "wall street journal." these are the kinds of things that nobody ever would have suspected it you would hear of this man. >> you didn't know about this. they have this on-line right now. you can read it. it is quite interesting. here is a guy in the military used to regimented style. what he says goes. he moves into a more informal organization like the cia where people contridict each other. the idea is to get the best idea out on the table. he wasn't used to that. there was clashes within the cia and between petraeus and other agencies including his boss, the national national intelligence director. there was a lot of building up before this scandal resulted.

and this contentiousness under cut his position within the administration and with president obama. you didn't see a lot of people forming a circle around general petraeus and saying, look, he should continue in the job despite the scandal. >> the report in the journal indicates there was a lot of inner agency finger-pointing. >> that's right. over the time line that he released it, it was unexpected by other agencies. they weren't expecting him to do that. and then within the cia himself, he clashed with his own counter terrorism person over drone strikes. he wanted to align the strikes more with diplomatic efforts and the cia were after targets. and then on a smaller, but notable scale, he tends to schmooze with saw bored nets by going running with them. he would subject people come along on his athletic bouts. he runs a 6 to 7-minute mile. a few people at the cia could keep up. even these efforts by general

petraeus to get to know people within the cia fell flat, and contentiousness under cut his relationships. >> and again, the "wall street journal" is reporting it sounded like general petraeus wanted to stay on. last monday he got a call from the head of the director of the national intelligence james clapper. >> and there were fights going on over whose time line should be out there, which agency is looking particularly bad in this controversy on the hill over benghazi. general petraeus didn't want the cia to take the hit. and so he advanced the time line. it was the contrary expectations of his boss. >> well, it is a phac thatting read -- it is a fascinating read. wsj.com. it is laid out in a really good article. thanks. >> my pleasure. israel is massing its forces along the border with gaza. i tell you it looks like they are about to go in. the head of israel's military called up the reserve troops.

this is escalating right this minute. as you know, escalations happen very quickly in the middle east. when the palestinians fire at tel aviv, you can expect an escalation. the live report from israel is coming. and for the first time the federal government is holding individuals responszable for their -- responsible in the bp oil rig blast that killed 11 people and resulted in oil spilling all over the gulf coast. now they will pay.

the drums of war are beating in israel. violence along the border between israel and the gaza strip has escalated with a rocket strike that narrowly missed tel aviv. that is said to be the first attack targeting the city in 20 years. israeli officials say they will take whatever action necessary to protect their people including a ground invasion of gaza if necessary.

the israeli military reports it has hit at least 230 targets across the strip and claims the so-called iron dome defense system has intercepted about 90 incoming rockets. the past two days of fighting believed to have killed at least three israelis and at least 15 palestinians. leyland is live along the border for us tonight. >> reporter: good evening, shepherd. hamas said killing its military commander would, quote, open the gates of hell. that's what we experienced today as some 200 rockets came into this area of southern israel where there are more than a million people living here. the only thing protecting the iron dome missal system behind me. but as we found out, it is far from rocket proof. we have more missiles coming in. you can see everyone running -- this is safest place. we will come in under here, and now we wait. those awful seconds that everyone in this part of the world knows what it is like to

wait as the missiles are coming in. you know it is here. the question is, where will it hit? and there it was. the explosion nearby. what you don't know is whether that was the iron dome exploding, intercepting the missal or whether that was another hit somewhere around this densly populated residential area. that's the iron dome. you have an explosion in the air. we will walk around the other side where you saw this damage. when you talk about what these missiles can do, that's it. this is the other side of the apartment building we are on. you are looking at the gaza strip where the missal flew out of and then into this apartment building. you can get a sense of how random the killing is here and how absolute the destruction is. this is where one of the people who died in the apartments were standing. you look through here, you see just how much is blown away.

>> and right now overhead you hear the unmistakable sound of israeli f-16's flowing into the gaza strip and flowing up ammunition depots and then refueling and rearming and then taking off again. we have seen tanks and armored personnel coming toward the gaza strip. whether or not there is a ground invasion, whether or not this continues on for weeks or merely another couple of days, shepherd, is really going to be up to hamas and then up to the egyptians who are sending their prime minister into gaza tomorrow to try and bring some sort of calm to this before it spirals into a full war. back to you. >> leland on the border with israel. thank you. what happens with egypt will be the big turning point here. does egypt remain on the sidelines? egypt today condemned this action by the israelis. the question is what else will egypt do? we will have continuing coverage of the situation there.

mideast security expert joins us live to explain the implications of the action there today, where the united states stands on it. and president obama visited some of the people after -- still hurting after hurricane sandy. we'll hear from him and one of the people dealing in the aftermath. the crisis in israel, and the crisis in the aftermath of the storm, those are both coming up.

continuing to watch live images coming in from the gaza. this is 10:23 p.m. obviously it is hours later there and night fall has been with them for many hours. our correspondent mentioned that the israeli air force are flying this, and they have hit a lot of targets today. the question is what happens with ground troops.

let's bring in the former intelligence officer of defense. mike, good of you, thank you. let's start with the ground troops. it is one thing to uh mass them and another to send them. >> it is, but are you talking about 30,000 reservists, and the missal that was sent to israel. it has gotten a lot worse. i would have said this would be over in a couple days, but it looks now much more significant. >> condemnation has come from the egyptians. it is so much instability there and a lot of fears. >> so the big player in the region has always been egypt. they are bankrolling between egypt and israel. with the arab spring and the events happening, the equation

has changed dramatically. the other player to keep an eye on is turkey. that has faded in the last few years as well. we really are seeing -- coming into fruition of the new chess board in the middle east if you will. and i think it will be very dangerous as people try to figure out who are the players and what are their motivations and what are their red lines and strategies. i think you will see a lot of permissive activity. they will allow weapons to flow in as they have been doing with syria as well. one of the things we have to be worried about is what will they do to ship through the suez canal. will there be implications there and for global trade? there are any number of issues coming to the floor and this is uncharted territory. >> the last thing the israelis want to do, and they have made this clear, but it is to occupy again. that said once you get in there you have to own the thing. where does the united states stand on all of this at the moment? >> i don't think you will see any daylight between israel and the u.s. on this.

even if just for base political domestic reasons, the administration can't afford it coming off the heels of an election victory. they can't afford to allow any kind of divide based on partisan maneuvers and bickering. the u.s. will stand firmly by israel in providing weapons as we have historically done. but again, and we have a very active intelligence sharing program. but you start to look at the broader escalation of this. is this a way for israel to test out the iron dome system and the 300 missiles that have been launched in the last couple days 1234* what does that mean in -- what does that mean in terms of their potential strike against iraq and checking out their weapons versus the hamas and the egyptian and potentially iranian responses. >> history tells us the israelis don't mess around. if you are following the history book on how this works, going back through the conflict with lebenon and hezbollah a few years ago,

first you soften up the target. and they are doing that. normally right on the heels of that with history as our guide, israel moves. >> you are absolutely right about that. there is a lot of uncertainty in the region. we need to throw the first punch. we want to do a lot of damage and take out the weapon stockpiles and everything we know where it is. that's why you can see them bombing the missals and things like that. i think it is important for them to realize they have launched some 300 some rockets and they are not particularly capable. they can cause a lot of concern, but they are not good at targeting these weapons. iran or egypt may provide better weapons in the future. >> he is right about that. mike barrett live in washington. i hope not to see you much on this one, mike. they shoot off rockets mostly. you saw the damage he has shown to the apartment. it has to hit to you hurt

you. >> it has to hit you to hurt you. we have been in the towns near the border at night when the rockets are coming and the air raid sirens go. it is an act of terror. one of the most frightening situations you can be in. just because you don't know where it is going. they don't know where they are going. they launch them at a general area. the israelis go back in and they kill militants and others get caught in collateral damage. their straix are targeted. their strikes are targeted. they strike terror in the heart of israelis. there were other towns along the border there. it was something she was accustomed to. that was a red line and they said it was a red line and -- >> it changes everything. goodness knows if they would

have hit tel aviv it appears they landed in the sea. there is debate about that. but the fact they aimed at it and they can reach it in terms of distance it is a game changer . it certainly appears to be. standing by for breaking news. thank you. president obama today toured parts of new york that are still suffering after sandy damaged it. some folks have power outages and gas shortages. 17 days after the event. the president toured the hardest hit area along with new york's governor. both senators and senators and the new york mayor and michael bloomburg. it is the second trip to the region since the storm. he said it won't be his last. >> i was speaking on behalf of the country when i said we are gonna be here until the rebuilding is complete. i am going to come back today, but i will be coming back in the future to make sure we have followed through on that commitment. >> the us frustrations are

really boiling over. tons of debris is everywhere in staten island. the drivers still report finding -- they have trouble finding gas and someplaces and some people on long island are nearing their third week. eric sean is in staten island. what else did the president have to say? >> shepherd, the president said it was not going to be easy. you can certainly see why. you not only saw the devastation, but also met with the victims and most poignantly the moore family who lost their sons, two and four years old when the floodwaters engulfed their suv. their mother was desperately driving away to save them. when you look behind me you can see not only the power of the storm. look at the windshield of the van impaled by a fence. let's look inside a house. many of the houses we visited, you just can't save them, shepherd. even though fema and others are here on the ground, residents are frustrated. anthony gotti's house of 32 years is totally destroyed.

>> mom and i spend eight hours a day for three days straight, more than that, at the fema tent just trying to get all the help we can get. >> what are they offering you? >> they offer us housing assistance, a bunch of different things. it is very frustrating. >> despite their frustrations they vow to stay. >> in staten island, thanks. and a massive oil spill in the united states. the oil giant bp. wait until you hear this gulf coast residents. it has come home.

bp is set to pay the largest criminal penalty in american history. billions of dollars in criminal finds for the 2010 deep water horizon disaster. in the last hour eric holder detailed the settlement. he said bp will plead guilty to more than a dozen charges. most of them are felonies. felonies which lead to 11 dead americans. they died when the rig sunk in the gulf of mexico.

they will charge two with manslaughter. the company is also pleading guilty to obstruction for lying about how much oil was actually gushing into the gulf. as if they didn't know. they were lying to our faces in the beginning. of course they knew it. now they admit it. they spewed 200 million gallons of the thick coated marsh lands. bp wanted its life back. welcome to your life back. it left beach towns empty and business openers had to beg tourists to return, and $4.5 billion in fines is on tap and on top of the tens of billions of dollars that bp has paid out. the huge fine is nothing compared to the company's yearly profits. bp recently reported making $5.5 billion in profits in

three months. and yes they are still getting contracts to the united states, and yes we are still working with them. and yes they are still drilling, bp. this is sickening. >> yes, it is extraordinary shepherd. in particular these manslaughter charges are interesting. the news conference they just wrapped up, officials say the greatest tragedy was the fact that the deaths of 11 men could have been prevented. they say those deaths resulted from bp placing profit over pry den see. two -- prudence. they were responsible because they saw glaring red flags that this well was about to blow, and they failed to take action. and talking of action, attorney general eric holder says the doj's action is not over yet. listen. >> i want to be really

absolutely clear that today's resolution does not, does not mark the end of our efforts. and in fact our criminal investigation remains on going. we will continue to follow all credible leads and pursue any charges that are warranted. >> officials also said they hope today's manslaughter charges bring as they put it some measure of justice to the families who lost their loved ones ones in this explosion. >> what are the officials from bp saying some. >> they issued a statement pretty quickly. they said in part, we apologize for our role in the accidents, and as today's resolution with the u.s. government further reflects, we have accepted responsibilities for our actions. that from bob dudley, bp's group chief executive talking of chief executives, remember this guy? >> no one wants this over more than i do. i want my life back. >> tony hayward, the man who wanted his life back.

i e-mailed him today to ask him how that getting your life back thing was going for him and everybody else involved. i didn't hear from him. i heard directly from his lawyer who said jonathon, we represent yaw nell -- janel energy where he is ceo. thank you for your earlier e-mail. he will not be commenting on bp. best, patrick. tony hayward has his life back working as a chief executive working with genel energy. >> i hope genel energy is enjoying his company. thank you. judge gnaw napolitano is here. they lied. we knew it. the oil was coming up. they knew it was more than that. we knew it, but they lied to our faces. it slowed down the relief efforts. it slowed down the response. it lead to the temporary at least death of the tourism industry down there. they lied to us. now they admit it that they lied and we are just supposed to forgive them? >> the government could have

tried them, but instead they effectively pleaded guilty. they saved the government a great deal of money. they saved themselves money by answering a guilty plea. i am critical of what the government did today. >> it should have been civil. >> if this money had been a civil settlement, then the money would have been distributed to the people who actually were harmed. businesses that were closed and the human beings who suffered egregiously, and you personified that so nicely by solving those problems. instead it goes for the government to spend how it wants. the purpose of these litigations should be to make whole those who have been harmed, not to give the government more cash to play around with. >> if this had -- i would bet my life on this. if this had happened in the northeastern united states, the palm would have been -- the people would have been paid. here the people have a bigger voice. down there the people aren't getting pied.

paid. bp just paid billions of dollars by admitting it screwed them at every single turn. and we just keep giving them more licenses and more leases. go bp go. i don't understand it. >> the rules should be the same everywhere. the people of louisiana should not be -- and mississippi and alabama and florida should not be paying for this on their own. their leaders don't have the political fortitude. >> they don't have it. they do a good job, but they don't have big mouths. >> bp has paid a lot of money already. >> bp is making billions and billions in profit after lying to us and screwing an entire region. >> but under the system they shouldn't have to pay more than the damage they caused. nor should the government be getting these cash. the harm these people suffered is egregious. no amount of money can eradicate it. they should get the cash.

>> thank you government. now back to the crisis in the middle east. there is developing news there. we told you that the palestinians in the gaza strip tried to hit israel a rocket in the city. they hit into south israel and a number of people have died. the israelis have rirnd fire and they have been running into the gaza strip and hitting ammunition sites and whatever it is they have. and now they have called up 30,000 reservists and are massing near the border and saying a ground war is not -- has not been ruled out. on the phone is ambassador mark who is a former u.s. am ambassador to israel. i know are you tight for time. thank you for staying with us. how should we in the united states be looking at this situation? explain to us what is happening here? >> well, we should be very worried about it. it is not as if there is not enough tau mullet in the middle east. this is adding fuel to the fire.

it is a ground war in gaza with em plaw locations of re-- implications of reacting and they could jeprodize the peace treaty, but there is the fact that rockets have fallen today on southern tel aviv and potential foretell uh veef to come under fire too which could escalate the situation. the leader in egypt condemned these attacks. they are verying assessments of the condemnation and what the strength of the condemnation means. can you help us with your thoughts on it? >> well, more -- morissey is walking a tight line. there is anger among his brotherhood that are linked to

and identify with hamas in gaza. and on the other hand he doesn't want to create situations where the israel -egypt peace treaty is broken and he moves his support from the united states and support for international financial loans he needs to keep the egyptian economy afloat. he is working with president obama and he is sending his prime minister to gaza to get hamas to stop the rocket fire. >> the computer is taking us to a break. stay with us.

continuing our coverage of the crisis that is developing in the middle east, the israelis have responded now after the palestinians in the gaza strip attempted to hit israel today, but have hit other israeli cities.

they are in recent days and now they have knocked down what they know about the palestinian weapons. they have called up 30,000 reservists and are uh massing the troops. the indication is there may be a ground incursing at whatever level into the gaza. the ambassador has been good enough to stay with us. he is an ambassador and we are talking about morsey's importance in the puzzle in that parts of the world. >> shepherd, he is walking a fine line, but he -- i think it is in his interest to calm the situation. that is why he is sending his prime minister to gaza tomorrow. i think the israelis will be careful not to attack anywhere near he cut them to be. it could explode things and

the egyptian leadership seems to not want to let that happen. so the question is whether he working with president obama and secretary clinton can persuade hamas to call off the rocket attacks and police a cease-fire. i think that what we are hearing out of gaza today is talk of martyr dom and rockets being aimed closer and closer to tel aviv, and i suspect they will have several more rounds of escalation before it is possible to work out a cease-fire. as you said it may involve an israeli ground operation into gaza which could inflame the arab world that would be unpredictable. >> that leaves turkey in the mix as well.

they were reliable in the past, but not anymore i am thinking. >> turkey championed gaza. also the muslim brotherhood leader like morsey is connected to hamas. i expect he too will get into the mix here hopefully to try and calm things down. he will try to appeal to the popular sentiments. they are over the inflaming tensions. >> it is important to keep in mind that netanyahu has it

coming up.

world leaders are speaking out in hopes of preventing further escalation along the border with gaza. at the same time there is erred israel has -- there is word israel has called up for a possible ground invasion of the palestinian territory. troops are said to be on the move now. at least 15 palestinians and three israelis are reported dead in this latest fighting. david lee miller is part of our team who is live in southern israel tonight. david lee? >> shepherd, we are 15 miles from the gaza border. this evening there was a great deal of unease and confusion.

it was a city of half a million. the greater metropolitan area is skiing lantly -- is significantly higher than that. they fired a rocket that landed within the city limits. authorities are not releasing precise details. there were no injuries and they are not releasing that information because they do not want to give targeting instructions to the militants. the weapon involved believed to be an iranian-made rocket. one of the rockets smuggled into the gaza strip. earlier the israelis said they had destroyed most of those weapons. meanwhile there were as you mentioned three israeli fatalities today. this in a city 15 miles from gaza. the dead two men and one woman seriously hurt a child. on the palestinian side, the death toll now stands at least 15 who have been killed. among them the hamas military commander. today his funeral was held in

gaza. thousands and thousands poured out, but shepherd, conspicuously missing the hamas leadership. they were no where in sight. apparently they were keeping a low profile, fearful of a targeted assassination. and lastly as you just discussed , tomorrow the egyptian prime minister is going to visit gaza. it could be the beginning of a diplomatic solution to this conflict. the israelis said they are ready for a ground incursing. it is something that some have suggested the government is reluctant to do. it is a bargaining chip. it is on the table, leverage if there is no diplomacy that is successful. shepherd? >> david lee miller in southern israel. thank you. we will be right back.

we are preparing expanded coverage for the fox report tonight. we will have team coverage in israel as it is developing. and much more on the scandal